Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution is a technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts. Arbitration can be either voluntary or mandatory. Mandatory arbitration can only come from a statute or from a contract that is voluntarily entered into, where the parties agree to hold all existing or future disputes to arbitration.

Arbitration often allows you to resolve disputes more quickly and cheaply than by going to court. Instead of judges or juries, arbitrators decide who is at fault and and how to remedy the circumstance during a private examination of the facts.

Arbitration is a proceeding in which a dispute is resolved by an impartial adjudicator whose decision the parties to the dispute have agreed, or legislation has decreed, will be final and binding. There are limited rights of review and appeal of arbitration awards.

Donald T. Ryceis a partner in the Vero Beach arbitration firm of Law and Arbitration Offices of Donald T. Ryce, where he has practiced in the areas of labor and employment law, commercial litigation, and appellate practice from 1970 to 2010.

He retired from his law practice in 2010 but remains active as a full-time neutral arbitrator. Mr. Ryce received both his B.A. degree and his J.D. degree from the University of Florida.

He began his career as law clerk for an appellate judge in Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, and then became a named partner in the law firm of Hogg, Allen, Ryce, Norton & Blue before starting his own law firm in 1989.

He is licensed to practice in all Florida courts, and has handled cases in the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, the Southern District of New York, and in the federal Second, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Ryce is on the American Arbitration Association’s National Roster of Labor Arbitrators and on its National and Florida Roster of Employment Arbitrators, and is a member of the AAA’S Commercial Arbitration Panel.

He is on the Roster of Labor Arbitrators for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. He is on the permanent panel of Hearing Examiners for Miami-Dade County.

Additionally, he is a public arbitrator and is chairman and injunction qualified for FINRA Dispute Resolution, the largest securities dispute resolution forum in the world; a consumer, commercial, and employment arbitrator for the National Arbitration Forum; and an arbitrator on the employment and general Florida panel for National Arbitration and Mediation, Inc.

He has written numerous articles and is a frequent lecturer for various professional groups on a variety of legal and arbitration issues. He is on faculty with Fox Valley Technical College and lectures on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice to a variety of audiences, including federal, state, and local law enforcement.

He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, and the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He has been selected for inclusion in the 2008-2010 editions of Marquis Who's Who in America and in the 2008-2010 Florida Super Lawyers.

Mr. Ryce is a member of The Florida Bar and until his semi-retirement from active representation of clients in 2010 WASA member of the Executive Council and Chair of the Voluntary/Local Bar Subcommittee of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Florida Bar. He actively continues his arbitration practice.

He is Chairperson of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Advisory Board and is a Director of The Jimmy Ryce Center ForVictims of Predatory Abduction, Inc. He was named as Honorary Member of the Miami Downtown Rotary Club. He is also a member of Team Hope, a group sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which advises victim parents.